I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone at my A Weekend to Pack talk at Bishopstoke Retirement Village last week.
It was especially poignant giving a talk about the book during the week when the UK was holding so many events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day – Victory in Europe, and marking the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945.
It was fascinating to hear the recollections of people remembering that day in 1945, and the feelings of relief at knowing the war in Europe was over, mixed with the continued concern for the situation in the Far East, the war continuing there until August 1945.
They all had different stories to tell – and Hilda, David and Edward’s story is of being on their way home to the UK, on board the Stirling Castle and docked in Bermuda on that day in 1945.
And I love hearing the personal stories of those in the audiences at my book talks – from the gentleman who was a child living in Portsmouth during the Blitz, to the couple whose father and father-in-law had been a fire watcher in Southampton, and that of the lovely lady last week who’d been born in Hong Kong!
Whether I’m talking to local-based groups, interest groups, Women’s Institute branches, or historical organisations, it’s wonderful to hear those individual stories, as well as to have the feedback and comments on the story of George, Hilda, David and Edward – and as Admiral Sir George Zambellas GCB DSC DL, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 2013-2016, writes, of “An evocative human story of a family caught up in an almost unknown dimension of the Second World War.”
Caroline Wigley 